The fire that destroyed a prominent heritage building in Wellington’s Shelly Bay yesterday is being treated as suspicious.

Firefighters were out in the early hours of Wednesday morning working to extinguish the blaze, which started in what’s known as the sawtooth building, or Shed 8.

While the Wellington Company planned to keep the building as part of the Shelly Bay development, but investigations revealed the adjoining wharf was also hazardous, preventing the access and repair of the Shed 8 building to which it is connected.

They had also hoped to salvage materials from it, but the fire has scuppered those plans.

Police said this morning Shelly Bay Rd remains closed while they continue their scene examination.

“At this time the cause of the fire cannot be determined due to the damage the building suffered,” they said in a statement.

“It is being treated as suspicious because the building was unoccupied at the time the fire broke out, and power was not connected.”

Police are asking the public to avoid the area, and said anyone who has information that could help the investigation should call the non-emergency 105 number, referencing file number 230607/9584.

Reports can also be made online at https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105 and using Update Report.

The sawtooth building, or Shed 8, caught fire yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Wellington Company said in a statement yesterday the building was “intended for generations of Wellingtonians to come”.

“The Wellington Company have invested heavily in consents, architectural and urban design/ landscape plans around these buildings before the notice for demolition was issued by Wellington City Council over the structures in late December 2022. The two wharfside buildings were then programmed for removal in August 2023, with salvaged materials to be adaptively reused within the development of Shelly Bay Taikuru,” they said.

“We are devastated with the loss of opportunity to reuse these elements from Shed 8, as well as the salvaged wharf timbers located on site which were destroyed by the fire.

“We would like to thank Fire and Emergency New Zealand and NZ Police for their continuing efforts, and our thoughts are also with contractors who have lost equipment in the fire. The focus now shifts to the safe clean-up of the site, in collaboration with Wellington City Council - and following that, what can be delivered on the site to create a memorable place - for all of Wellington and beyond.”